As is well known, when a human or animal subject suffers a cut or injury causing bleeding, in due course blood flowing from the wound coagulates and bleeding ceases. At this time hemostasis is completed and no further blood flows from the wound. The time during which blood flows is known as the "bleeding time" and, for most people, this occurs for a normal time period.
It is often necessary, as for example when surgery is contemplated, to determine if the patient suffers from a disorder or the effects of medication which may abnormally affect the patient's bleeding time. To this end, in order to test the bleeding time, it is necessary to form a reproducible incision on the patient, usually on the patient's forearm and to measure the time required for bleeding to cease. The test may be repeated after a period of time to check for improvement or deterioration and in this connection, it is imperative that the incision formed be of the same length and depth as the previous test incision.
In view of the above, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a simple, automatic device capable of producing and reproducing incisions of precise length and depth to facilitate such bleeding time testing.
A further object is to provide such a device which may be readily triggered to form the desired incision but which, prior to use, may be safely handled and stored without danger of the device being accidentally triggered.